Rating: 
Summary: Not for Everyone
Review: Either love it or hate it. This book was enthusiastically recommended to me as a modern masterpiece, but I got bored halfway through and plodded through the rest. Written in 1939 by Russian writer Bulgakov, the notion is that the devil visits communist Moscow in the guise of a strange professor along with two cohorts. Moscow, the center of communist xenophobia towards oursiders, is where state-sanctioned athiesm should preclude the devil's very existence. It's cute, and ultimately touches on themes of the purpose of evil, the duality of good and evil, and political hypocrisy. But it's written in that maddening Russian style, full of little references to obscure 19th-century literary gazettes, minor Soviet functionaries, and Goethe. These reference, of course, are coded by self-censorship. As a result, there are pages and entire chapters where nothing seems to happen - a guy walks around the streets, but the commentary pages in the back of the book patiently explain how the names of the streets and apartment numbers carry important, obscure references. The commentary is good and insightful, but ultimately it really demonstrates how far the book is from its readers. You need the commentary just to understand what's going on. I'm told this is a great book that gets better with subsequent readings. Maybe so. Maybe I'll pick it up again later and give it another try.
Rating: 
Summary: A hillarious look at the problem of good vs. evil
Review: If there really is a Devil somewhere in the universe, I'm sure he closely resembles Bulgakov's Woland (along with his imfamous band of sidekicks). Overall, a brilliantly funny, inventive, and poignent novel! Read it for the laughs, the sublime social and moral commentary, and the historical and religious insights that you will glean from its memorable storyline.
Rating:
Summary: A hillarious look at the problem of good vs. evil
Review: If there really is a Devil somewhere in the universe, I'm sure he closely resembles Bulgakov's Woland (along with his infamous band of sidekicks). Overall, a brilliantly funny, inventive, and poignent novel! Read it for the laughs, sublime social commentary, and historical and religious insights that you will glean from its memorable storyline.
Rating:
Summary: MASTERpiece
Review: Just as that other great Russian literary genius Chekhov, Bulgakov was a doctor by profession. His father was a theologian. The combination endowed him with a deep knowledge of both disciplines and it shows in thsi excellent novel.
It's almost unfair to call this book a novel. It is a sarchastic and ironic condemnation of Stalinist Russia; indeed, the novel was forbidden until the quiet thaw that occurred for many years. Bulgakov seems to borrow from Faust, the New Testament and Dante's divine comedy as the devil and his entourage of a witch and a cat who loves chess and vodka visit Moscow. Their visit is welcomed by a writer(master) and his helper (Margarita). The 'Master' is writing a novel about Pontius Pilate and Margarita visits the depths of hell on his behalf. In the background of this almost mythological tale, the novel provides an excellent account of Soviet life in the 1930's.
Rating:
Summary: Worth More Than 5 Stars!
Review: This book is worth well more than 5 stars, but unfortunately that is all I am able to give it in this review. This book (the Diana Burgin & Katherine Tiernan O'Conner translation) deals with Moscow in the 1930's and what happens when the devil shows up unexpectedly one day. He doesn't arrive alone, however; he is accompanied by a beautiful (but naked) witch, a sidekick named Bezdomny who dons a broken pince-nez and a talking black cat who has a weakness for chess and vodka. A series of hilarious events events occurs, causing chaos all over Moscow and several people land in a mental institution as a result of these events. This book has frequently been compared to Goethe's "Faust" with its underlying theme of good vs evil and if the reader is familiar with Faust, the similarities between these two books will become immediately obvious. At the back of the book are the footnotes explaining some of the more obscure details that a non-native Russian probably wouldn't understand, such as various departments in the Soviet government, names of prominent Russians at that time, certain untranslatable words, etc. I particularly enjoyed this translation because it was an easy, smooth flowing read and I had no difficulties understanding what was going on. This book should be especially read by anyone who has a passion (or curiosity) for Russian literature or culture because this book was not allowed to be published during the author's lifetime..and the author knew that he would never see his book in print, but he wrote it anyway; and the literary world is all the better because he insisted on writing it.
Rating:
Summary: A fine comic novel
Review: I don't speak or read Russian, so I am unable to tell whether or not this was a true translation of the original. What I can tell is that this translation is amusing, cynical, and smooth. The book is much in the style of Catch-22, the same over-the-top ridiculousness to underscore a similar seriousness and futility. I read this book on a vacation and never felt like I was being pretentious; it was just too much fun!
Rating:
Summary: This is THE translation
Review: Other than saying that this is probably THE greatest book to come out the Soviet Union I would like to focus on the translation issues. Being a nativae Russian speaker and having read the book in Russia, I feel that picking the right translation is crucial to fully enjoying the book.In my opinon the Ginzburg translation stays very true to the original Russian. Master and Margarita language was one of the things that made this book so great. While this edition is not a complete one, the much better translation compensates for it. The Glenny translation, while a more complete one lacks the soul of this one.
Rating: 
Summary: In foreign language reprints translation is everything.
Review: I speak fluent Russian, so I'm familiar with problems in translation from Russian to English. Overall, Bulgakov's writings show his talent and wit. However, to a non-Russian, most of the allegories will be lost anyway, so to attempt to endear the reader with some understanding of what the writer is getting at, the translator needs to consider the language of the reader, the colloquialisms of the reader and the times of the reader. There are better translations available. This translation is accurate to the words, but will leave the reader wondering what the heck the writer was getting at. If you are a history buff with knowledge of Russian life in the 1920s-1930s, this will be a good book for you. Else, if you just like Bulgakov, this translation is okay. There is a reason why this is the cheapest of the translations, and that is because you're getting what you paid for, a rote translation of words with little translation of thought, which is the mark of an A-grade professional translator.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN
Review: I read a lot so take my word on it.
Rating:
Summary: an all time favorite
Review: a heart wrenching love story, a satirical political critic, an outrageously funny farce; Ladies and Gentlemen, Satan has come to Moscow for his grand ball. Expect much trouble in days to come. And keep in mind that man's greatest flaw is cowardice...
|
